Malaysia’s PETRONAS Chemicals to shut No 2 Labuan methanol unit

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Malaysia’s PETRONAS Chemicals Group (PCG) will shut its 1.7m tonne/year No 2 methanol plant at Labuan in November, for maintenance, a company source said on Friday.

The shutdown will lasst 50 days, the source said.

“This will be for thorough maintenance checks. The plant has been operating erratically,” the source said.

The company's 660,000 tonne/year No 1 methanol unit at the same site is currently operating at around 70% of capacity, the source said.

The shutdown of PCG’s bigger methanol unit will further tighten supply in the region and could drive prices higher, market players said.

Downstream glue, acetyls and resin makers based in southeast Asia are finding it hard to cope with current high methanol prices at around $440/tonne (€321/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia, they said.